22 Ways to Stay on Time—and in Style

At the beginning of every year, the watch industry meets in Switzerland to show off their new models for the year. The first show, Geneva’s SIHH, is smaller, with just 16 brands showcasing their new styles for the year. Next is Baselworld, where more than 1,000 brands exhibit new timepieces. The focus at each of these shows is to see who can make the thinnest, biggest, coolest, most complicated watch in the world. And while many of the products are priced for only the most elite watch collectors in the world, a good majority of them are actually attainable in this lifetime. All of them are cool, functional masterpieces of technical skill, but don’t look for them quite yet. These watches won’t appear in stores until June 2014, at the earliest. From $300 to $300,000, here’s an advance look at some of the coolest things to come.

This collector’s piece commemorates the first landing on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. This evolution of the classic Moonwatch is made of Sedna red gold, ceramic and titanium. Omega will make 1,969 of these, which references the year man first walked on the moon.

Key feature: Note the cool PVD dial, which was made using a laser to remove the materials surrounding the name, sub-dial numerals and hour markers.

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Raymond Weil Freelancer

This dressy addition to the Freelancer group combines a rose gold coated PVD plated stainless steel case, a black lacquer dial and leather strap. A visible balance wheel at 12 o’clock provides a peek into the inner-workings of this automatic watch.

Wear this with: The busier the watch, the sportier it is. A simple, pared down design like this makes it an ideal match for a dressy suit or tuxedo.

Automatic watches usually cost upwards of $1,000, but Kenneth Cole introduced new models this year priced below $300. The intricately designed stainless steel timepiece has a skeleton dial and a black steel bracelet.

How does that work? There are two key types of watch movements. A quartz watch is battery-powered. A mechanical watch uses internal springs and gears to keep time. Usually this is powered by winding the crown. If it’s an automatic—or self-winding—mechanical watch, power comes from the motion of your wrist.

Expected retail price: $200

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Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Supercharged

This sporty watch has a steel anthracite PVD case with yellow and white details. A chronograph function includes a central seconds hand that doubles as a stopwatch, a 30-minute register at the top, a 12-hour counter below and a small seconds display at 9 o’clock.

Key feature: Most dive watches have an external bezel, created for divers to track elapsed time and how much oxygen they have left in their tanks. The internal bezel on this watch rotates beneath the crystal. Activate the mechanism using the crown at 2 o’clock.

Designed with the national colors of Brazil, this is the official FIFA World Cup watch and the brand’s first bi-retrograde chronograph, a rare complication in watchmaking. This one, located at the top of the dial, is essentially a pricey way to time soccer matches. A smaller dial at 6 o’clock shows the current time. The small pie-shaped counter on the left counts seconds.

How does that work? Simply put, a bi-retrograde counter allows the hands to return to their starting point at lightening speed. When you start this chronograph, the second hand sweeps across the arc from 0 to 60. When it hits 60, the minute hand moves a notch and the second hand jumps back to 0 and the process repeats. The small window below indicates which half you’re timing.

When Hamilton first introduced this watch in 1971, it had one of the world’s first automatic chronograph movements. More recently, the Pan Europ has been exclusively battery-powered, but this new model features a movement powered by motion. The retro-inspired piece is updated with new colors, sporty racing stripes and an 80-hour power reserve.

Key feature: Easily change the look of this watch by swapping straps. Choose between textile (shown here) and leather.

Expected retail price: $1,095

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Breitling Chronomat Airborne

The sturdy steel watch comes in a 41mm and 44mm case size in the “Sierra silver” version shown here, as well as the reverse, with a black dial and lighter sub dials. The engraved caseback notes that this is the 30th anniversary of this watch. The timepiece has a 70-hour power reserve and a military-inspired strap.

How does that work? The raised tabs on the rotating bezel are there to help pilots count off flight times. You can also use this feature to monitor short amounts of time. If you have 30 minutes on your parking meter, starting at 10:10am, move the top center tab to the 40-minute mark. When the minute hand reaches the tab, it’s time to get back to your car.

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Oris Calibre 110

This watch features Oris’ first in-house movement in 35 years, and marks the company’s 110th anniversary. This hand-wound watch has a 10-day power reserve, displayed with a non-linear indicator on the right side of the dial. Rather than each of the 10 days getting equal play, the hand seemingly slows down as the power starts to fade. They’ll make 110 pieces each in rose gold and stainless steel, shown here.

How does that work? A movement refers to the inner-workings of the watch. When a company makes this mechanism themselves it’s called "in-house”. While many brands outsource their movements, watch enthusiasts believe in-house movements are more desirable.

Expected retail price: $6,500 or $17,500

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Baume & Mercier Clifton Chronograph

Baume & Mercier added chronograph functions to the Clifton collection, which debuted in 2013. This automatic timepiece has a 43mm steel case inspired by a 1950s model and a flexible steel bracelet. It’s also available with a blue or black alligator strap and blue hands.

How does that work? A watch complication is another way of referring to the things it does beyond telling time. A chronograph—which allows a watch to function as a stopwatch—is one of the more common, useful examples, along with day and date indicators. More advanced complications include world time, moon phase and minute repeaters.

This watch syncs with satellites in space to show the time anywhere in the world. It has the world’s fastest satellite signal reception speed which allows it to display the precise time in 40 time zones. A light level indicator shows the amount of light reflecting on the dial in seven levels, which allows you to gauge the charge level of this Eco-Drive timepiece.

Key feature: Not only is this lightweight titanium satellite watch fast, it’s the world’s thinnest, at 12.4 mm. The design references solar panels used to power the satellites it connects with.

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Ball Watch Fireman Storm Chaser Pro

Meteorologist Dr. Joshua Wurman collaborated with Ball Watch to create this automatic chronograph that can be used by storm chasers but is stylish enough for less daring professions.

How does that work? Telemeters were first used by military to determine the position of enemy artillery. Now meteorologists use them to establish the distance between the wearer and a point of lightening impact, for example. Start the chronograph the moment lightening is seen and stop it when thunder is heard. The seconds hand will indicate the distance on the telemeter scale located on the bezel.

In 2004, TAG Heuer introduced a concept watch that featured four barrels with belt drives and ball bearings that mimic the cylinders of a Formula One engine. That watch hit the market in 2009 and this year, they added a tourbillion to the piece, which you can see at 9 o'clock.

How does that work? A tourbillon is a mechanical system that regulates the speed at which a watch beats. It compensates for gravitational forces that cause time to run fast or slow. Traditionally, it overcomes the effects of gravity by placing the balance wheel and escapement inside a rotating cage. This watch is the first to use a micro-belt to drive the tourbillon.

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88 Rue Du Rhone Broadway

The brand may be new, but it comes with a serious watchmaking pedigree. 88 Rue du Rhone was founded in 2012 by Raymond Weil’s grandsons, Elie and Pieer Bernheim who wanted to create a collection of stylish, affordable watches.

Although the design of the watch is new, it references the look of the 1940s Radiomir with its cushion case and Plexiglas crystal, similar to the material Panerai used on the original models made for the Royal Italian Navy. This red gold version has a brown dial with Roman and Arabic numerals.

Key feature: This watch is a limited edition series, which makes it a collector’s item. Panerai will only make 100 pieces of each version: white gold, platinum and red gold, shown here.

Expected retail price: $158,000

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Cartier Calibre de Cartier Diver

Cartier’s first dive watch combines technical deep-sea functions and a sleek, elegant design. It has dive essentials like a unidirectional bezel, super luminova hands and dive-time indicator. It’s also fitted with a thick crystal and a screw-in crown for water-resistance to 300 meters.

Key feature: Most dive watches are relatively hefty, but this one is just 11mm thick, which means it looks as good with a wet suit or 3-piece suit.

The third generation of the IWC diver’s watch features a rotating bezel system that moves from the outside but rotates inside. It also has a quick-change bracelet system so it’s easy to toggle between rubber and steel.

Key feature: As water depth increases or decreases during a dive, the blue depth gauge indicator on the left side of the dial moves across the white scale to show current dive depth. The red indicator remains at the greatest depth reached during the dive.

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Ernst Benz Chrono Combat

This tough new series of watches takes its cues from military aviation, apparent from the olive dial color and luminous orange markers. The matte black DLC case comes in both a 47mm and 44mm size.

Wear this with: Jeans and a leather jacket.

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Piaget Altiplano 900P

Piaget can now lay claim to having world’s thinnest manual wind watch. Rather than have the movement backed by the caseback, they integrated the two, which results in a watch that’s only 3.65mm thick. They will make it in both white and rose gold.

Key feature: For three years, watchmakers and designers worked together to create this this ultra slim watch. Most of its 145 parts are barely thicker than a hair’s breadth.

Expected retail price: $26,200-$27,800

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Montblanc Timewalker Chronograph 100

A patented chronograph function allows this watch to measure elapsed intervals to the nearest 100th of a second, something most mechanical watches can’t do.

Key feature: The construction of the case is as cool as the movement. It’s made of materials used in auto racing, including titanium, diamond-like carbon and layers of carbon fiber fused together.

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Ralph Lauren Black Safari Flying Tourbillon

For 2014, Ralph Lauren adds a flying tourbillon to its Black Safari collection, visible through an aperture at 6 o’clock. This statement piece is a study in textures, including a shot-blasted stainless steel case, anvil wood on the dial and an alligator strap.

Key feature: The flying tourbillon with mounted small second shows a level of micromechanical complexity that is so mesmerizing, you might lose track of time.

Expected retail price: $80,000

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Seiko Astron GPS Solar Chronograph

This GPS watch has the same characteristics of the previous Astron with the addition of a chronograph function in a case that’s 30 percent smaller than last year. It’s also titanium, so even at 45mm, it’s still lighter than most.

How does that work? This watch uses the power of light to connect to GPS networks, which then deliver the most accurate time to your wrist. It has a simple one-touch button. Press it for six seconds to activate the GPS function and cycle through every time zone in the world.

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